Prior to joining Gardere, Mr. Stone was a partner and co-founder at Lee & Stone LLP, a boutique law firm focused specifically on representing private fund investment advisers and family offices on launch, capital raising, transactional and regulatory matters. At Lee & Stone, Mr. Stone, among other things, designed and executed seeding and partnership arrangements between managers and investors (including family offices); registered managers with the SEC, State of Texas and/or the CFTC; and guided clients through a variety of on-going activities, including complex investments and transactions, marketing, regulatory compliance, and, in certain cases, sale or windup. Prior to Lee & Stone, Mr. Stone served as general counsel for the prominent Dallas-based control and activist investment manager, Newcastle Capital Management, L.P. At Newcastle, Mr. Stone oversaw and advised on all legal matters for the adviser and its affiliated investment funds and companies, including control transactions, proxy contests, financings, corporate governance matters, ‘34 Act filings, fund formation and marketing. Mr. Stone also served in a general counsel capacity for certain of the adviser's operating portfolio companies, overseeing traditional corporate matters.

Prior to joining Newcastle in 2006, Mr. Stone worked at the international law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. At Skadden Arps, he represented leading private equity funds and Fortune 500 companies on mergers and acquisitions and securities matters, advising on a host of highly innovative transactions, and trained alongside the foremost practitioners in the field.

Mr. Stone’s background and perspective is augmented by investment banking experience for Merrill Lynch & Co, where he advised public companies, private equity funds and venture capital funds on equity and debt financings as well as mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Stone has also served as a director of public companies and a member of key committees.

Education

J.D., The University of Texas at Austin School of Law (1997)

Dual J.D. and M.B.A. Program

M.B.A., The University of Texas at Austin Graduate School of Business (1997)

Dual J.D. and M.B.A. Program

B.A., Harvard College, magna cum laude (1993)

Professional Affiliations

Admitted to practice before:

Texas State Courts

New York State Courts

Member, State Bar of Texas

Member, New York State Bar

Community Involvement

Chairman, Lawyers Division of Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas

Board Member, Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas (2012-2014)

Member and Vice President, Community Homes for Adults Endowment Foundation (CHAEF)